Open Chat... All Day, Every Day! Express Your Views, Debate, and Challenge the Views of Others!

In order to keep up with the nature of free, spirited debate, I wanted to place the chat feature at the top of the homepage. This ensures people can come here and share their views on anything they wish and not have it be related to any specific discussion. Here, people can share ideas, links, and views "unmoderated" and an their own pace. To me, this makes The Elephant in the Room blog truly a place for debate.

Friday, April 6, 2012

The March 2012 Jobs Report

The Bureau of Labor Statistics March 2012 Jobs Report: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

Brief highlights:

Overall unemployment rate = 8.2%

Labor participation rate = 63.8%

Jobs added = 120,000

Share your thoughts, feelings, opinions, and analysis below.

12 comments:

  1. No surprises. High fuel prices take money out of peoples pockets'. This leads to less spending (it hurts like a tax). Notice the drop in retail sales hiring.
    Yes, this is Obama's fault (mostly). A comprehensive energy policy (policy overall is an executive branch function) that led to this situation (Obama's policy is terrible) is the main cause. Get him out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm always curious on this logic, as I've yet to see it explained to my satisfaction.

      Why, exactly, is Obama's energy policy terrible?

      Our demand for gas is lower than ever, greatly in part to the increased MPG mandate put on car companies and the cash for clunkers program. Both of which certainly had their flaws, but ultimately it still had a positive result in reducing demand.

      Our production within boarders is also at its highest point ever, and is forecasted to continue to grow a great deal even under this administration.

      We're still issuing drilling permits at a rate near-equivalent rate to the previous administration (~50/year iirc?), with the only falter being the halt placed on permit issuance immediately after the BP oil spill (which I believe was fair and necessary at the time).

      My only real issue is the failure that we’ve had in Solyndra, but on that topic I don’t agree with the idea that we shouldn’t be investing in this technology. Innovation is a key part to success in America and I strongly support fostering that, particularly when it comes to an area as important as energy. And the fact of the matter is, that we will need to find alternatives to fossil fuels in the not too distant future.

      Delete
    2. It seems like you are just repeating what you hear Obama and the MSM say.

      Prove: Our demand for gas is lower than ever, greatly in part to the increased MPG mandate put on car companies and the cash for clunkers program. (I'd love to see the actual proof for this, especially since the number of drivers has increased and people holding on to jobs further from home has increased dramatically) but it seems like you're just repeating what you are hearing. Do you really believe it?

      Prove: Our production within boarders is also at its highest point ever, and is forecasted to continue to grow a great deal even under this administration (it's factually untrue, by the way)

      Delete
    3. I don't have the opportunity right now to dig through for more detailed and sourced info that I have bookmarked at home, but here's a start:

      Regarding our demand for gas falling: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/17/business/la-fi-mo-gas-prices-20120117
      http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/03/23/149220383/why-gas-prices-are-rising-even-as-demand-is-down
      http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=49&articleid=20101225_49_E1_CUTLIN210147

      And many more.

      A quote:
      "The decline is expected to accelerate for several reasons.

      - Starting with the 2012 model year, cars will have to hit a higher fuel economy target for the first time since 1990. Each carmaker's fleet must average 30.1 mpg, up from 27.5. By the 2016 model year, that number must rise to 35.5 mpg. And, starting next year, SUVs and minivans, once classified as trucks, will count toward passenger vehicle targets.


      - The auto industry is introducing cars that run partially or entirely on electricity, and the federal government is providing billions of dollars in subsidies to increase production and spur sales.


      - By 2022, the country's fuel mix must include 36 billion gallons of ethanol and other biofuels, up from 14 billion gallons in 2011. Put another way, biofuels will account for roughly one of every four gallons sold at the pump.


      - Gasoline prices are forecast to stay high as developing economies in Asia and the Middle East use more oil."

      The CAFE regulation is what necessitates the rise in fuel efficiency among cars in America (first passed in the 70s), which as part of this administration's policy was increased.
      More about that here:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy

      Cash for Clunkers info:
      http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/08/cash-for-clunkers-final-sales-and-mpg-results-and-totals.html
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System

      Results were difficult to measure in an accurate quantitative number, but there's no question it did reduce demand through removal of close to 700k poor MPG cars. I'm again not making any kind of statement on whether it was an effective use of tax payer money or the best idea or not; just stating that it did reduce demand.

      I did misspeak about domestic oil production, as its at it's highest since 2003 (not ever), but the point does stands that it is up:
      http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=us&v=88
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/us-energy-poll-domestic-oil_n_1396448.html
      http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/12/news/la-pn-report-us-oil-imports-down-domestic-production-highest-since-2003-20120311
      http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcrfpus1&f=m

      Delete
    4. Oh, and more regarding the forecasted increase in production:
      http://www.chron.com/business/article/U-S-oil-gusher-blows-out-projections-3341919.php?cmpid=twitter

      Delete
  2. Just like Tsfhem said does this really surprise anyone? All the president does is promote things that kill our economy.

    Obamacare will hurt businesses. A shit energy policy hurts businesses. Pandering to unions hurt businesses. Over-burdensome environmental regs hurt businesses (we need some, but not what Obama prescribes), high corp tax rates hurt businesses, taxing the wealthy hurts businesses. Obama wants to keep promoting policies that hurt the one thing that is needed to grow jobs: BUSINESSES!

    This is NO surprise.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you look at page 4 of the Employment Situation (from the link above) you will see some odd data. For instance, we added 120,000 jobs, why did the number of employed people DECREASE by 31,000? Also notice that the civilian labor force DECREASED by 164,000. And finally, the number of people that just quit looking for a job was 333,000.

    I find it amazing that the number of EMPLOYED people DECREASES by 31,000 but somehow we added 120,000 jobs.

    If 0bama could just get everyone to give up on finding a job we could get that unemployment rate down to 0%.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Haters gonna hate.

    Gaggle of butt fucking retards

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've never understood how we gain any jobs when we have a projected 250,000 to 300,000 baby boomers retiring every month. According to this we aren't even replacing the job vacancies due to retirement and that is very sad. We need 400,000 to 500,000 jobs added every month to see any improvement in this economy. So many people have given up. This administration has no clue what to do. They keep their fingers crossed every day hoping the situation improves because they have no policies to stimulate anything. Harry Reed won't even bring the 20 plus bills forward for a vote in the Senate that the Republicans passed in the House to improve the situation. Not major bills but simple things to cut out the red tape for businesses today that will stimulate job growth. He won't even talk about them let alone let them come up for a vote. Which party is being obstinate?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right on, anonymous! Couldn't have said it better myself. It's good to know there is at least one intelligent, don't-follow-the-liberal-media-bull independent thinker out there. You caught the flub with the math, and hopefully that will spread.

      And the part about Prince Harry and the senate. Also right on! The president gets away with blaming the GOP, the liberal press blames the "obstructionist" republicans, but the truth is, and of course, the media won't talk about this, when the democratic senate says House bills are "dead on arrival" that shows they are NOT committed to working together and compromising. The press won't say that though, but it's good to know someone else does.

      Great post!

      Delete
    2. Have to keep in mind that jobs added is a net figure, not a stand-alone.

      Delete
  6. Thanks Totempole164..... it's a fine mess we are in!

    ReplyDelete